Two mechanic trips

So I have front stabilizer bar link that's broke and a leaking rear shock absorber. Gotta break them up since I'm juggling some other bills here at the end of summer. Which would be more important? Thanks!

 

I would say both of those are fairly low prio but I'd get the link taken care of first if I had to pick. Probably 50% of people out there driving around with leaking struts. Both jobs you could do yourself very easily with basic tools just fyi. I know that gets brought up a lot but both of these are pretty straight forward.

 

Agreed.

 

The broken sway bar can be removed until you can afford to get a replacement. Is the bar itself broken or the bushings, or end links? Many claim removal is a super mod.

You can drive with a blown shock. But bouncy bouncy will get to you eventually.

For both items you could possibly find take offs someone has taking up space in their garage they'd probably sell for cheap, even just the cost of shipping. If I had either I'd happily give them away. I got too much stuff in my 2.5 car garage that a prius barely fits. 3 air compressors. At least 7 electric saws.

 

Take sway bar off, for now and replace rear shocks

 

A sway bar link is $12 if you're 2wd. $25 if your 4wd.

A replacement rear shock is $50-$110, possibly cheaper if you search the local regional Yard Sale forums/threads.

 

If you own a floor jack. Both of these can be done fairly easily.
You’d save yourself a lot of money. And the job isn’t too hard.
If you can change a tire, you can probably do these jobs yourself.

 

Just did my spark plugs a couple weeks back.....think I'll give the sway bar a try and see what happens.

 

If you can do the sway bar, The shocks will be easy.
You can do it, I have faith in you.

 

I replaced the sway bar end links on my 4WD 2nd gen Tacoma a few weeks back. The job was pretty easy. I used a bit of penetrating lube to help loosen the nuts holding the end link in place. Because my truck is high mileage (305K), the nut was pretty seized on there so I had to use a vice grip to hold the end link ball joint in place to prevent it from spinning with the nut.

The end link ends are location specific, so one end goes into the sway bar, the other into the spindle upright. The end that goes into the spindle upright is much longer than the end that goes into the sway bar. They are not side specific (driver/passenger). I had to take the tire off to replace the sway bar end links because I couldn't fit a torque wrench with the tire in place.

I purchased and used Moog sway bar end links. So far so good, but I think I'll get a few years out of them before needing replacement.

 

What state do you live in? Might be able to find takeoffs for free or cheap re shocks

 

OP if you are 4x4 do not drive around with a broken swaybar endlink if you like the condition of your CV boots to be intact.

Like stated, both parts can be had for stupid cheap and are easy to replace.

 

I'd dare say the spark plug job is harder than either of the other two tasks you have currently at hand. Just because of the limited access you have to get to one or two of the plugs on the driver side iirc.

 

I'm curious where you got your end links from. Mine were ordered from Summit back in May, received the fronts in June, still waiting for the rears. Bushings took about 10 months.

 

A quick look through buy/sell/trade, I see both pieces you need. You'll have to figure out model specific details yourself.

 

I got the front bar stabilizer link on the way from Amazon....$15. The local Toyota dealer wanted $400 for the full job. Glad I found this place

 

you can get a new end link for $20 and install it yourself

and a new set of shocks to stop playing games
if one is leaking they are all worn out

Well yeah they have to pay a bunch of people who didn't perform the work, the smallest portion to the mechanic, and some of it towards their operating costs

 

I just ordered mine from Amazon.

 

I’ve had bad luck with receiving Amazon counterfeits. So critical items, like what I plan to install on my taco, I source elsewhere.

 

The Napa premium brands are sometimes rebranded OEM or aftermarket top tier. That way you can get them at a brick and mortar store.